Budget laptop recommendation needed (1 Viewer)

[Jim517]

My wife's HP, Windows 7 laptop apparently is shot. What do you guys recommend for a reliable, budget laptop? Any brands you recommend or ones to avoid?

Thanks.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

See my thread here.
https://www.hometheaterforum.com/co...xperience-with-refurb-latitude-laptop.355320/

After upgrades and a new battery for $220. Really good deals out there for refurbished laptops.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks. I was reading about the Google Chromebook laptop. That sounds very interesting. Does anyone have one or know anything about them? My wife just wants something to take when she's away, to go on the internet and check her Email.

 

[DaveF]

What about an iPad for $329?

 

[Jim517]

Which model is that? I thought they cost more than that.

 

[DaveF]

Which model is that? I thought they cost more than that.

https://www.apple.com/ipad-9.7/

 

[Rodney]

If you are a Comcast customer you may be able to take advantage of this offer for a Space Grey iPad for $120:

https://www.xfinity.com/ipad
Eligible customers can purchase a WiFi-only iPad at $5 per month for a 24-month period - a savings of more than $300 on its retail price of $429.

 

[Jim517]

https://www.apple.com/ipad-9.7/

Thanks. Walmart and Best Buy both have it for $249. I will have to see if my wife would like this instead of a laptop.

 

[John Dirk]

Are you sure it's really shot? It may be worth a little diagnostic effort. If it's the hard drive, cheap [fairly generic] replacements are available for maybe $50.00. Add another $100.00 or so for Windows and you're done.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Are you sure it's really shot? It may be worth a little diagnostic effort. If it's the hard drive, cheap [fairly generic] replacements are available for maybe $50.00. Add another $100.00 or so for Windows and you're done.

He may not be savvy enough to troubleshoot his machine.

The other side is that the Win license is a real deal-killer if he hadn't upgraded Win 7 to Win 10 for free when it was available, or if he didn't have any system backups (most people don't). You can download a Win 10 installation disc at the MS site in their "media creation tools" area, but it only works if you have that magic license.

I paid $140 for a fully functioning refurb laptop with a legal Win 10 license. That's cheaper than buying a drive and a Win 10 license, and actually about the price of a retail Win 10 license.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I got a Lenovo Ideapad 320 from Bbuy recently, been happy with it especially for the price.

 

[John Dirk]

He may not be savvy enough to troubleshoot his machine.

The other side is that the Win license is a real deal-killer if he hadn't upgraded Win 7 to Win 10 for free when it was available, or if he didn't have any system backups (most people don't). You can download a Win 10 installation disc at the MS site in their "media creation tools" area, but it only works if you have that magic license.

I paid $140 for a fully functioning refub laptop with a legal Win 10 license. That's cheaper than buying a drive and a Win 10 license, and actually about the price of a retail Win 10 license.

Yea, good point. I always forget that aspect of it. FYI - I just upgraded three of my machines from Windows 7 to Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool and, as long as you have a valid copy of Windows 7 running, it completes without ever mentioning the need to pay for a new license. I think Microsoft is intentionally keeping this quiet.

 

[Jim517]

Are you sure it's really shot? It may be worth a little diagnostic effort. If it's the hard drive, cheap [fairly generic] replacements are available for maybe $50.00. Add another $100.00 or so for Windows and you're done.

No, I'm not sure. I did a couple things that improved the speed, but it still freezes up for no reason. If you Google it, it's been a known problem for years, with no apparent solution. And there's no way I'm going to spend $100 or $150 on this old thing.

 

[John Dirk]

No, I'm not sure. I did a couple things that improved the speed, but it still freezes up for no reason. If you Google it, it's been a known problem for years, with no apparent solution. And there's no way I'm going to spend $100 or $150 on this old thing.

I understand and agree. Planned obsolescence. Unscrupulous but real. Maybe you can donate it, earning both karma points and tax deduction credit.

 

[Jim517]

I asked a couple people who are computer savvy, and they don't even want to look at it. They are Mac people, and haven't used Windows for many years.

 

[Jim517]

One thing I read about doing for this problem, but haven't tried yet, is resetting it back to the factory defaults. But I have to wait to find out if my wife has anything on it she needs !

The model # of the HP laptop is 2000-417NR

 

[John Dirk]

It probably has a "recovery partition" which can usually be accessed from startup options or within Windows control panel (Control panel > backup and Restore) but you DO need to make sure you have important data backed up first. Good luck and if I can help please feel free to ask.

 

[Jim517]

Thanks again. I'll find out more tomorrow night.

 

[KeithAP]

The other side is that the Win license is a real deal-killer if he hadn't upgraded Win 7 to Win 10 for free when it was available…

While it may not be Microsoft's official policy, Win 7 (and 8 as I understand it) keys are still working to activate Win 10, at least when doing a clean install.

A few weeks ago I downloaded the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft and used it to create a Windows 10 virtual machine on my iMac. I used an old Windows 7 key I owned (never previously upgraded to Win 10) and it activated the new Windows 10 installation without issue. From what I have read, this is not a unique occurrence.

-Keith

 

[Scott Merryfield]

If you are a Comcast customer you may be able to take advantage of this offer for a Space Grey iPad for $120:

https://www.xfinity.com/ipad
Eligible customers can purchase a WiFi-only iPad at $5 per month for a 24-month period - a savings of more than $300 on its retail price of $429.

Thanks for the link, Rodney. My very old iPad 2 will not hold a charge anymore and I wasn't going to bother replacing it. However, at this price I went ahead and ordered one.